'Women have it better than men because they can always be cleaners', author Fay Weldon suggests

Fay Weldon says women like to see themselves as victims but actually have it better than men. Photo / Getty Images

Women like to see themselves as victims but actually have it better than men because they can get jobs as cleaners, according to outspoken author Fay Weldon.

The 85-year-old claimed women were winning the battle of the sexes because they can easily gain employment in lower paid jobs, where opportunities are always available.

Speaking at Henley Literary Festival, she said: "When it comes to getting jobs or getting into university, well, girls can always get jobs and boys can't. They [girls] can always be cleaners, cleaners are always wanted."

Ms Weldon, who has previously suggested feminism is not needed any more because men are not as awful as they used to be, also reiterated her former claim that many women paint themselves out to be victims when they are not.

"You will get people who are often saying how dreadful men are and you ask them about their fathers or their brothers or their boyfriends and they say, oh they're not awful, but there is this sort of popular conception that men are awful, horrible people," she said.

She added that women can rarely have it all because they cannot balance love, work and family life.

Asked if she fell down in one area, she replied: "Not necessarily but then I was extremely energetic [and] bright. Most women, you know, have pains in their tummies."

The author, whose books include The Life and Loves of a She-Devil and What Makes Women Happy, has previously suggested that an all-woman society would result in "lots of nice cushions".

She also described women who suffer from anorexia as "just girls who don't want to grow up".